What is significant about The Whistler? How might the content of the book (a character running from the police) be related to Liesel and the story at this point?

Liesel wants to steal the book that Frau Hermann had offered to her, because stealing it feels more like "earning" it. Liesel feels like a charity case if Ilsa gives her the book out of pity, but stealing it involves Liesel giving herself a purpose. Like the character in the book, she too is breaking the law and taking risks for a higher purpose.